Drug information acquisition device and method

ABSTRACT

A row of V-shaped grooves is formed in the bottom of each of imaging trays  110 A and  110 B which temporarily hold a dose of drug. After drugs are inserted into the imaging tray, the imaging tray is vibrated to remove the overlap between the drugs corresponding to a dose and to correct the posture of the drugs using a first inclined surface  112 A and a second inclined surface  112 B of the V-shaped groove. Two cameras  130 A and  130 B are provided so as to face the first inclined surface  112 A and the second inclined surface  112 B of the V-shaped groove  112 , respectively, and capture the images of the drugs which have stable postures that have been corrected on the V-shaped grooves, in two directions. The first and second images of the drugs captured in two directions are processed to accurately acquire drug information including at least outward appearance information of the drugs.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a Continuation of PCT InternationalApplication No. PCT/JP2014/062840 filed on May 14, 2014 claimingpriority under 35 U.S.C §119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No.2013-128732 filed on Jun. 19, 2013. Each of the above applications ishereby expressly incorporated by reference, in their entirety, into thepresent application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a drug information acquisition deviceand method, and more particularly, to a technique for acquiringinformation, such as the type and number of drugs to be packaged,immediately before a packaging apparatus automatically packages eachdose of a plurality of types of drugs.

2. Description of the Related Art

A system has been proposed which inserts each dose of drugs (pills) to atransparent packet, captures the image of the drugs from the upper sideof the packet, and performs an image recognition process for thecaptured image to calculate the number of drugs in the packet(JP1995-200770A (JP-H07-200770A)).

This system can capture the image of the drugs inserted to the packetand process the captured image to calculate the number of drugs.However, in the determination of the type of drug, it is difficult toremove the overlap between the drugs in the packet or to solve problemscaused by the orientation (lateral direction) of the drugs. In addition,in some cases, characters are printed on the packet or light is randomlyreflected from the packet. For these reasons, it is difficult totechnically achieve the system.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a drug dispensing devicehas been proposed which places drugs to be dispensed on a druginspection table, vibrates the drug inspection table in the horizontaldirection to remove the overlap between the drugs, captures the image ofthe drugs on the drug inspection table while vibrating the druginspection table, and performs an image recognition process to calculatethe number of drugs on the basis of the captured image, immediatelybefore automatically dispensing each dose of drugs (JP2011-104077A). Inaddition, a plurality of grooves which are partitioned by convexportions extending in a vibration direction are formed in the bottom ofthe drug inspection table described in JP2011-104077A and the drugs areguided by the grooves and are smoothly dispersed on the drug inspectiontable.

JP2005-525973A discloses a device which fills a bottle with the sametype of drug (pill). This device includes first conveying means which isprovided between a hopper storing a large number of drugs and a bottle,includes a plurality of inclined vibration plates arranged in a line andvibrates each vibration plate to convey the drugs on the vibrationplates, second conveying means which is a drum that is provided in anexit portion of the vibration plate and is rotated while drawing thedrugs, and a camera which captures the image of the drugs on the drum inorder to count the number of drugs. A groove is formed in the bottom ofeach vibration plate in the conveyance direction. Therefore, it ispossible to convey the drugs in a line along the groove. In addition,JP2005-525973A discloses a structure in which the groove formed in thebottom of the vibration plate and a plurality of grooves formed in acircumferential surface of the drum have a triangular shape (V-shape).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The drug dispensing device disclosed in JP2011-104077A places the drugson the drug inspection table and vibrates the drug inspection table toremove the overlap between the drugs, immediately before dispensing thedrugs. Therefore, it is possible to more accurately count the number ofdrugs, using the image recognition process, as compared to the structuredisclosed in JP1995-200770A (JP-H07-200770A).

However, the drug dispensing device disclosed in JP2011-104077A countsthe number of drugs corresponding to a dose, but does not recognize thetype of drug. Therefore, it is difficult for the drug dispensing deviceto accurately recognize whether a dose of drug is dispensed according toa prescription.

For example, in a stage in which a dose of drug is prepared, a manualdistribution operation which sequentially puts a dose of drug in each ofthe containers (measures) which are partitioned in a grid is performed.However, when some drugs are exchanged between adjacent containers, thenumber of drugs corresponding to a dose is correct, but a combination ofthe drugs is not correct. Since the drug dispensing device disclosed inJP2011-104077A does not recognize the type of drug, it is difficult forthe drug dispensing device to recognize the exchange between the drugs.

However, JP2011-104077A discloses a structure which extracts the contourof the drug using the image recognition process. It is possible tovibrate the drug inspection table to remove the overlap between thedrugs. However, in the case of drugs with various three-dimensionalshapes, when the drugs are adjacent to each other, the contours of thedrugs overlap each other in the captured image, which makes it difficultto accurately acquire the outward appearances (contours) of all of thedrugs. In addition, a drug with a flat side surface is stable in twostates, that is, a state in which the upper surface or lower surface ofthe drug comes into contact with the bottom of the drug inspection tableand a state in which the side surface of the drug comes into contactwith the bottom of the drug inspection table. Therefore, in some cases,the posture of the drug is not changed even though the drug inspectiontable is vibrated. The camera which is provided in the drug dispensingdevice disclosed in JP2011-104077A captures the image of the entirebottom of the drug inspection table from the upper side. Therefore, insome cases, the camera captures only the image of the upper surface orlower surface of the drug or only the image of the side surface of thedrug. In this case, an error in the determination of the outwardappearance of the drug is likely to occur.

JP2005-525973A discloses the structure in which the groove formed in thebottom of the vibration plate for conveying drugs and a plurality ofgrooves formed in the circumferential surface of the drum have atriangular shape and the posture of the drug is corrected by two lateralwalls of the triangular groove. The camera captures the image of thedrugs drawn to the drum in a direction facing the side surface of thedrum. Therefore, in the case of a disc-shaped drug, the camera capturesthe image of the drug in an oblique direction. As a result, it isdifficult for the camera to capture only the image of the upper surfaceor lower surface of the drug.

The invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems andan object of the invention is to provide a drug information acquisitiondevice and method which can accurately detect the outward appearance ofdrugs with various shapes and accurately acquire drug informationincluding at least the outward appearance information of a dose of drug.

In order to achieve the object, according to an aspect of the invention,there is provided a drug information acquisition device including: animaging tray that is provided between a drug supply unit whichsequentially supplies each dose of a plurality of types of drugs and apacket insertion guide, temporarily holds a dose of drug supplied fromthe drug supply unit, and has a bottom in which a row of V-shapedgrooves, each having a first inclined surface and a second inclinedsurface, is formed; a mechanical unit that removes an overlap betweenthe drugs corresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray andcorrects the posture of the drugs using the first inclined surface andthe second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove; an illumination unitthat illuminates the drugs on the imaging tray, first and second imagingunits that are provided so as to face the first inclined surface and thesecond inclined surface in the bottom of the imaging tray, respectively,and capture images of the drugs, whose posture is corrected by themechanical unit and which are illuminated by the illumination unit, onthe imaging tray; and a drug information acquisition unit that processesa first image and a second image which are respectively acquired fromthe first imaging unit and the second imaging unit to acquire druginformation including at least outward appearance information of thedrugs in the first image and the second image.

According to the above-mentioned aspect of the invention, a row ofV-shaped grooves is formed in the bottom of the imaging tray whichtemporarily holds a dose of drug to remove the overlap between the drugscorresponding to a dose supplied from the drug supply unit to theimaging tray and the posture of the drug is corrected by the firstinclined surface and the second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove.That is, the drug is stably held along the first inclined surface andthe second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove, according to theshape of the drug. As a result, the drug has a posture suitable forimaging. The first imaging unit and the second imaging unit are providedso as to face the first inclined surface and the second inclined surfaceof the V-shaped groove, respectively, and can capture the image of thedrug which has a stable posture which has been corrected on the V-shapedgroove in two directions (a front direction and a lateral direction).Therefore, the first image and the second image of the drug captured intwo directions can be processed to accurately acquire drug informationincluding at least the outward appearance information of the drug.

In the drug information acquisition device according to another aspectof the invention, it is preferable that the mechanical unit is avibration unit that vibrates the imaging tray.

In the drug information acquisition device according to yet anotheraspect of the invention, it is preferable that the first inclinedsurface and the second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove have thesame inclination angle and an angle formed between the first inclinedsurface and the second inclined surface is equal to or greater than 60degrees and equal to or less than 150 degrees. The reason for this isthat, when the angle formed between the first inclined surface and thesecond inclined surface is in the range of 60 degrees or higher and 150degrees or less, the effect of adjusting the posture of the drug isreduced. When the angle formed between the first inclined surface andthe second inclined surface is within the range of 60 degrees or higherand 150 degrees or less, the angle formed between the optical axes ofthe first imaging unit and the second imaging unit is slightly less thanthe angle of the V-shaped groove such that a portion of the drug is nothidden by the first inclined surface or the second inclined surfaceduring image capture.

In the drug information acquisition device according to yet anotheraspect of the invention, it is preferable that the first inclinedsurface and the second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove havedifferent inclination angles and an angle formed between the firstinclined surface and the second inclined surface is equal to or greaterthan 60 degrees and equal to or less than 150 degrees.

In the drug information acquisition device according to yet anotheraspect of the invention, it is preferable that the drug informationacquisition unit includes a storage unit that stores size correctioninformation corresponding to an object distance of each V-shaped groovein the row of the V-shaped grooves in the bottom of the imaging tray,reads the corresponding size correction information from the storageunit according to which of the V-shaped grooves in the row of theV-shaped grooves of the imaging tray the drug is located in, andcorrects size information which is included in the outward appearanceinformation acquired by the image processing with the read sizecorrection information.

The object distance from the first imaging unit or the second imagingunit to the drug varies depending on the V-shaped groove in the row ofV-shaped grooves in the bottom of the imaging tray. Therefore, thecorresponding size correction information is read from the storage unitaccording to which of the V-shaped grooves in the row of the V-shapedgrooves of the imaging tray the drug is located in and the sizeinformation which is included in the outward appearance informationacquired by the image processing is corrected with the read sizecorrection information. That is, it is possible to acquire the druginformation including the same size information from the same drug,regardless of which of the V-shaped grooves in the row of the V-shapedgrooves of the imaging tray the drug is located in.

In the drug information acquisition device according to yet anotheraspect of the invention, it is preferable that a plurality of theimaging trays are provided. In addition, it is preferable that the druginformation acquisition device further includes: a moving mechanism thatmoves the plurality of imaging trays between at least two of a positionwhere the drug is supplied from the drug supply unit to the imagingtray, a position where the vibration unit vibrates the imaging tray, aposition where the first imaging unit and the second imaging unitcapture the image of the drug in the imaging tray, and a position wherethe drug is discharged from the imaging tray to the packet insertionguide after the image capture; and a control unit that simultaneouslyoperates the plurality of imaging trays at the two or more positions.

According to the above-mentioned, structure, it is possible tosubstantially increase a processing speed and to prevent a reduction inthe packaging speed of the packaging apparatus, as compared to a case inwhich a series of operations of receiving a dose of drug, vibrating theimaging tray, capturing the image of the drugs in the imaging tray, anddischarging the drugs in the imaging tray to the packet insertion guideis performed in only one imaging tray.

In the drug information acquisition device according to yet anotheraspect of the invention, the first imaging unit and the second imagingunit are provided in an obliquely upward direction with respect to theimaging tray.

Preferably, the drug information acquisition device according to yetanother aspect of the invention further includes: an image acquisitionunit that instructs at least one of the first imaging unit and thesecond imaging unit to continuously capture the image of the drug on theimaging tray while the vibration unit is vibrating the imaging tray andacquires a continuous image; a determination unit that determineswhether the overlap between the drugs corresponding to a dose suppliedto the imaging tray has been removed and whether the posture of thedrugs has been corrected, on the basis of the image acquired by theimage acquisition unit; and a control unit that stops the vibration ofthe imaging tray by the vibration unit when the determination unitdetermines that the overlap between the drugs has been removed and thatthe posture of the drugs has been corrected. It is preferable that thedrug information acquisition unit acquires the drug information on thebasis of the first image and the second image which are acquired fromthe first imaging unit and the second imaging unit, respectively, afterthe vibration of the imaging tray is stopped. According to thisstructure, it is possible to stop vibration at the time when it isdetermined that the overlap between the drugs has been removed and thusto shorten the vibration time. The resolution of the image which iscaptured during vibration is reduced by the influence of image blurring.However, the quality of the image is sufficient to determine the overlapbetween the drugs.

In the drug information acquisition device according to yet anotheraspect of the invention, at least the bottom of the imaging tray is atransparent member, and the first imaging unit and the second imagingunit are provided in an obliquely downward direction with respect to theimaging tray and capture the image of the drug through the transparentmember. According to this structure, it is possible to increaseflexibility in the arrangement of the first imaging unit and the secondimaging unit.

In the drug information acquisition device according to yet anotheraspect of the invention, it is preferable that at least the bottom ofthe imaging tray is a transparent member. It is preferable that the druginformation acquisition device further includes third and fourth imagingunits that are provided so as to face the first imaging unit and thesecond imaging unit, respectively, with the imaging tray interposedtherebetween, and capture images of the drugs through the transparentmember. It is preferable that the drug information acquisition unitprocesses each of first to fourth images acquired by the first to fourthimaging units to acquire drug information including at least outwardappearance information of the drugs in the first to fourth images.

According to the above-mentioned structure, it is possible to capturethe image of the drugs in four directions. When character information isprinted or stamped on a drug or when a secant line is engraved in thedrug, it is possible to reliably capture the image of the characterinformation or the secant line.

In the drug information acquisition device according to yet anotheraspect of the invention, it is preferable that the drug informationacquisition unit further acquires at least one of color information,character information, and a secant line of the drug in the image, usingthe image processing.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a druginformation acquisition method that is performed in a drug informationacquisition device including an imaging tray that is provided between adrug supply unit and a packet insertion guide and has a bottom in whicha row of V-shaped grooves, each having a first inclined surface and asecond inclined surface, is formed, a vibration unit that vibrates theimaging tray, an illumination unit that illuminates drugs on the imagingtray, first and second imaging units that are provided so as to face thefirst inclined surface and the second inclined surface in the bottom ofthe imaging tray, respectively, and a drug information acquisition unit.The method includes: a drug supply step of supplying each dose of aplurality of types of drugs from the drug supply unit to the imagingtray; a vibration step of vibrating the imaging tray with the vibrationunit to remove an overlap between the drugs corresponding to a dosesupplied to the imaging tray and to correct the posture of the drugsusing the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface of theV-shaped groove; an imaging step of capturing images of the drugs on theimaging tray illuminated by the illumination unit, using the firstimaging unit and the second imaging unit, to acquire a first image and asecond image after the vibration step; and a drug informationacquisition step of processing the first image and the second imageacquired in the imaging step, using the drug information acquisitionunit, to acquire drug information including at least outward appearanceinformation of the drugs in the first image and the second image.

According to still another aspect of the invention, there is provided adrug information acquisition method that is performed in a druginformation acquisition device including an imaging tray that isprovided between a drug supply unit and a packet insertion guide and hasa bottom in which a row of V-shaped grooves, each having a firstinclined surface and a second inclined surface, is formed, a vibrationunit that vibrates the imaging tray, an illumination unit thatilluminates drugs on the imaging tray, first and second imaging unitsthat are provided so as to face the first inclined surface and thesecond inclined surface in the bottom of the imaging tray, respectively,and a drug information acquisition unit. The method includes: a drugsupply step of supplying each dose of a plurality of types of drugs fromthe drug supply unit to the imaging tray; a vibration step of vibratingthe imaging tray with the vibration unit to remove an overlap betweenthe drugs corresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray and tocorrect the posture of the drugs using the first inclined surface andthe second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove; a first imaging stepof continuously capturing images of the drugs on the imaging trayilluminated by the illumination unit, using at least one of the firstimaging unit and the second imaging unit, to acquire a continuous imageduring the vibration of the imaging tray in the vibration step; adetermination step of determining whether the overlap between the drugscorresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray has been removedand whether the posture of the drugs has been corrected, on the basis ofthe image acquired in the first imaging step; a step of stopping thevibration of the imaging tray in the vibration step when it isdetermined in the determination step that the overlap between the drugshas been removed and the posture of the drugs has been corrected; asecond imaging step of capturing images of the drugs on the imaging trayilluminated by the illumination unit, using the first imaging unit andthe second imaging unit, to acquire a first image and a second imageafter the vibration of the imaging tray is stopped; and a druginformation acquisition step of processing the first image and thesecond image acquired in the second imaging step, using the druginformation acquisition unit, to acquire drug information including atleast outward appearance information of the drugs in the first image andthe second image.

PA According to the invention, the image of the drug whose posture asbeen adjusted is captured in at least two directions. Therefore, it ispossible to accurately detect the outward appearance of drugs withvarious shapes and to accurately acquire drug information including atleast the outward appearance information of a dose of drug.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overall structure of a drugdispensing inspection support system to which a drug informationacquisition device according to the invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the outward appearance of a packagingapparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main portion of a firstembodiment of the drug information acquisition device according to theinvention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating a main portion of the druginformation acquisition device illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating an imaging tray illustrated inFIG. 3.

(a) and (b) of FIG. 6 are diagrams illustrating the shape of the bottomof the imaging tray.

(a) and (b) of FIG. 7 are diagrams illustrating the state of drugsbefore and after the imaging tray is vibrated, respectively.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an aspect in which the drugs aredischarged from the imaging tray in the drug information acquisitiondevice according to the first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the internalstructure of the drug information acquisition device.

(a) and (b) of FIG. 10 are diagrams illustrating drugs with differentside shapes.

(a) and (b) of FIG. 11 are diagrams illustrating an example of twoimages which are captured in a direction perpendicular to a firstinclined surface of a V-shaped groove in the bottom of the imaging trayand a direction perpendicular to a second inclined surface of theV-shaped groove, respectively.

(a) and (b) of FIG. 12 are diagrams illustrating an example of drugswhich have the same shape and different colors.

(a) and (b) of FIG. 13 are diagrams illustrating a drug havingcharacters printed or stamped on the surface thereof and a drug having asecant line formed therein, respectively.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of a process of thedrug information acquisition device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a timing chart illustrating the procedure of the process ofthe drug information acquisition device at a drug insertion/vibrationposition and an imaging/drug discharge position.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of a process of a druginformation acquisition device according to a modification example ofthe first embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main portion of asecond embodiment of the drug information acquisition device accordingto the invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main portion of athird embodiment of the drug information acquisition device according tothe invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main portion of afourth embodiment of the drug information acquisition device accordingto the invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main portion of afifth embodiment of the drug information acquisition device according tothe invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a drug information acquisitiondevice and method according to the invention will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

[Drug Dispensing inspection Support System]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overall structure of a drugdispensing inspection support system to which the drug informationacquisition device according to the invention is applied.

A drug dispensing inspection support system 1 illustrated in FIG. 1mainly includes a terminal 10, such as a personal computer to whichprescription information is input, a prescription database (prescriptionDB) 20 which manages the prescription information, a drug informationdatabase (drug information DB) 30 which manages drug information, and apackaging apparatus 80.

Information (prescription information) about a prescription for eachpatient is input to the terminal 10. The prescription information istransmitted to the prescription DB 20 and is managed. In addition, theprescription information is printed out by a printer 40. There, theprescription information includes, for example, information, such as thetype of each dose (morning, noon, and night) of drug which is taken by apatient, the number of days for which the patient takes drug, and thenumber of doses of drug, associated with prescription identificationinformation (prescription ID), a patient ID, and a prescription date andtime.

A pharmacist takes a press-through package (PTP) sheet 70, in whichdrugs corresponding to a prescription are packaged in a PTP manner, outof a drug shelf 60 while viewing a prescription 50 which is printed outfrom the printer 40.

The packaging apparatus 80 inserts a dose of drug which the patent takesat one time into a packet to package each dose of drug and has, forexample, a manual distribution tray (drug supply unit) 82 and anoperation unit 84 on the upper surface thereof, as illustrated in FIG.2.

The manual distribution tray 82 has a plurality of containers (cells)82A which are partitioned in a grid. The pharmacist extracts drugs fromthe PTP sheet 70 and puts the extracted drugs in each cell 824 of themanual distribution tray 82. The cells 824 are divided so as tocorrespond to morning, noon, and night and different types of drugs maybe put into the cells 82A for morning, noon, and night, according to theprescription. In this way, a so-called manual distribution operation inwhich a dose of drug is manually put in each cell 82A of the manualdistribution tray 82 is performed.

The cells 82A of the manual distribution tray 82 are configured suchthat the bottoms thereof are individually opened and closed. When thepackaging apparatus 80 is operated after the manual distributionoperation ends, the packaging apparatus 80 inserts a dose of drug into apacket from each cell 82A of the manual distribution tray 82 through apacket insertion guide. In this way, the packaging apparatus 80 packagesdrugs.

The drug information acquisition device according to the invention isprovided in the packaging apparatus 80 and acquires drug informationincluding outward appearance information of a dose of drug beforepackaging. In addition, the drug information acquisition device cancommunicate with the prescription DB 20 and the drug information DB 30and acquire necessary information from the prescription DB 20 and thedrug information DB 30, which will be described below.

[Drug Information Acquisition Device]

First Embodiment

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main portion of a firstembodiment of the drug information acquisition device according to theinvention. FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating a main portion of the druginformation acquisition device illustrated in FIG. 3.

As illustrated in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a drug information acquisitiondevice 100-1 mainly includes two imaging trays 1104 and 110B whichtemporarily hold drugs, vibration units (mechanical units) 120A and 120Bwhich vibrate the imaging trays 110A and 110B, two cameras (a firstimaging unit and a second imaging unit) 130A and 130B, and a turretdevice 140 which moves the imaging trays 110A and 110B.

The turret device 140 which holds the imaging trays 1104 and 110B isprovided between a supply guide (drug supply unit) 90 which guides drugssupplied from each cell 82A of the manual distribution tray 82 and apacket insertion guide 92 and is rotated 180° to switch the positions ofthe two imaging trays 110A and 110B.

The two imaging trays 110A and 110B have the same shape. When theimaging trays 110A and 110B do not need to be distinguished from eachother, they are simply referred to as imaging trays 110.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the imaging tray 110 has a rectangularparallelepiped box shape with an open upper surface and a bottom inwhich a row of V-shaped grooves 112, each having a first inclinedsurface 1124 and a second inclined surface 112B, is formed. In addition,a side surface 114 of the imaging tray 110 is made of a substantiallytransparent material.

As illustrated in (a) of FIG. 6, in the V-shaped groove 112 in thebottom of the imaging tray 110, the inclination angle of the firstinclined surface 1124 and the inclination angle of the second inclinedsurface 112B with respect to the horizontal plane are equal to eachother. In addition, the angle formed between the first inclined surface112A and the second inclined surface 112B (the angle of the V-shapedgroove 112) is preferably equal to or greater than 60 degrees and equalto or less than 150 degrees and more preferably close to 90 degrees. Thereason for this is that, when the angle of the V-shaped groove 112 is 90degrees, the effect of adjusting the posture of the drug is improved.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the two cameras 130A and 130B are provided soas to face the first inclined surface 112A and the second inclinedsurface 112B in the bottom of the imaging tray 110, respectively. It ispreferable that the angle formed between the optical axes La and Lb ofthe cameras 130A and 130B is slightly less than the angle of theV-shaped groove 112. In this case, it is possible to prevent some of thedrugs from being located in blind slots due to the first inclinedsurface 1124 or the second inclined surface 112B of the V-shaped groove112.

An imaging tray 110-1 illustrated in (b) of FIG. 6 is a modificationexample of the imaging tray 110. In a V-shaped groove 112-1 in thebottom of the imaging tray 110-1 according to the modification example,the inclination angle of a first inclined surface 112-1A is differentfrom the inclination angle of a second inclined surface 112-1B. Inaddition, the angle formed between the first inclined surface 112-1A andthe second inclined surface 112-1B is preferably equal to or greaterthan 60 degrees and equal to or less than 150 degrees and morepreferably close to 90 degrees.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the turret device 140 functions as an imagingtray moving mechanism which holds two imaging trays 110A and 110B and isrotated 180° to switch the positions of the two imaging trays 110A and110B.

The turret device 140 is provided with the vibration units 120A and 120Bwhich vibrate the imaging trays 110A and 110B, respectively. Each of theimaging trays 110A and 110B is held by the turret device 140 so as to bemovable in the horizontal plane and is held at a fixed position in thehorizontal plane by four springs 122 (three springs 122 are illustratedin FIG. 4).

The vibration unit 120A includes an electric motor 1244 and an eccentriccam 1264 and a cam surface of the eccentric cam 126A comes into contactwith the side surface of the imaging tray 110A. Similarly, the vibrationunit 120B includes an electric motor 124B and an eccentric cam 126B anda cam surface of the eccentric cam 1263 comes into contact with the sidesurface of the imaging tray 110B. Therefore, the electric motors 124Aand 124B rotate the eccentric cams 126A and 126B to vibrate the imagingtrays 110A and 110B in the horizontal plane, respectively.

In this embodiment, the vibration units 1204 and 120B illustrated inFIG. 4 vibrate the imaging trays 110A and 110B in the direction of theV-shaped groove 112 in the bottom of the imaging trays 110A and 110B,respectively. However, the invention is not limited thereto. Forexample, the vibration units 120A and 120B may vibrate the imaging trays110A and 110B in an oblique direction with respect to the groovedirection of the V-shaped groove 112, or in two directions, that is, thegroove direction and a direction perpendicular to the groove direction.The structure of the vibration unit is not limited to this embodimentand the vibration unit may have any structure as long as it can vibratethe imaging tray 110.

Returning to FIG. 3, the drug information acquisition device 100-1 hastwo positions, that is, an insertion position (supply position) wherethe drugs from the supply guide 90 are inserted (supplied) into theimaging tray 110 and a position (imaging position) where the image ofthe drugs in the imaging trays 110 is captured. The turret device 140(FIG. 4) is rotated 180° to switch the two imaging trays 110A and 110Bbetween the insertion position and the imaging position.

In the first embodiment, the insertion position where drugs are insertedis also a position where the vibration units 120A or 120B vibrate theimaging trays 110. In addition, the imaging position is also a dischargeposition where the drugs in the imaging trays 110 are discharged to thepacket insertion guide 92.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the two cameras 130A and 130B capture theimages of the drugs in the imaging trays 110 moved to the imagingposition in different directions and are provided in an obliquely upwarddirection with respect to the imaging tray 110. That is, the camera 130Ais provided so as to face the first inclined surface 112A in the bottomof the imaging tray 110 and the camera 130B is provided so as to facethe second inclined surface 112B in the bottom of the imaging tray 110.

In addition, ring illumination units 150A and 150B (illumination units)are provided around lens units of the two cameras 130A and 130B,respectively. The ring illumination units 150A and 150B uniformlyilluminate the entire bottom of the imaging tray 110 such that noshadows occur due to the drugs.

Before the two cameras 130A and 130B capture the images of the drugs,the vibration unit 120A or 120B vibrates the imaging tray 110 having adose of drug inserted thereinto.

(a) of FIG. 7 illustrates the state of the drugs in the imaging tray 110immediately after the drugs are inserted and (b) of FIG. 7 illustratesthe state of the drugs in the imaging tray 110 after the imaging tray110 is vibrated.

As illustrated in (a) of FIG. 7, some of the inserted drugs overlap eachother in the imaging tray 110 or the posture of some of the drugs isirregular. However, when the imaging tray 110 is vibrated, the overlapbetween the drugs can be removed and the posture of the drugs can becorrected (adjusted) by the first inclined surface 112A and the secondinclined surface 112B of the V-shaped groove 112, as illustrated in (b)of FIG. 7.

For example, the posture of a disc-shaped drug is adjusted such that theupper surface or the lower surface of the drug is located along thefirst inclined surface 112A or the second inclined surface 112B of theV-shaped groove 112. The posture of a capsule-shaped drug or astraw-bale-shaped drug is adjusted such that the longitudinal directionof the drug is aligned with the direction of the V-shaped groove 112.

Therefore, after the imaging tray 110 is vibrated, as illustrated inFIG. 3, the two cameras 130A and 130B capture the images of the drugs inthe imaging tray 110 in two directions to capture the images of theupper (or lower) and side surfaces of the drugs. However, in the case ofthe capsule-shaped drug, the images of different side surfaces of thedrug are captured.

The images (a first image and a second image) captured by the twocameras 130A and 130B are processed by a drug information acquisitionunit 170 (FIG. 9), which will be described below. In this way, it ispossible to acquire drug information including at least the outwardappearance information of the drug. The acquired drug information can beused to determine whether a dose of drug is dispensed according to theprescription.

When the capture of the images of the drugs by the two cameras 130A and130B ends, the drugs are discharged from the imaging tray 110 to thepacket insertion guide 92.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the bottom of the imaging tray 110 at theimaging position can be opened by a drug discharge unit 190 (FIG. 9) todischarge the drugs from the imaging tray 110 to the packet insertionguide 92. The discharge of the drugs from the imaging tray 110 to thepacket insertion guide 92 is not limited to the method which opens thebottom of the imaging tray 110. For example, the following variousmethods can be applied: a method which opens the side surface of theimaging tray and inclines the imaging tray to drop drugs or to sweep thedrugs out of the imaging tray; and a method which upturns the imagingtray.

<Internal Structure of Drug Information Acquisition Device>

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the internalstructure of the drug information acquisition device 100-1.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the drug information acquisition device 1001includes, for example, the operation unit 84, a control unit 160, a druginformation acquisition unit 170, a determination result output unit180, and the drug discharge unit 190 in addition to the imaging tray110, the vibration unit 120A (120B), the cameras 130A and 130B, theturret device 140, and the ring illumination units 150A and 150B.

The control unit 160 controls the overall operation of each unit of thedrug information acquisition device 100-1. In addition, the control unit160 can communicate with the prescription DB 20 and the drug informationDB 30 to acquire necessary information from the prescription DB 20 andthe drug information DB 30 and can communicate with the packagingapparatus 80 (FIG. 2) to control synchronization with a packagingoperation.

The operation unit 84 is provided on an operation surface of thepackaging apparatus 80 (FIG. 2) and receives, for example, aprescription ID described in the prescription 50 (FIG. 1) and theoperation information of the packaging apparatus 80.

When the prescription ID is input from the operation unit 84, thecontrol unit 160 reads prescription information (for example, the typeof a dose of drug which is taken by the patient, the number of days forwhich the patent takes the drug, and the number of drugs correspondingto a dose) corresponding to the input prescription ID from theprescription information managed by the prescription DB 20. In addition,the control unit 160 reads drug information corresponding to each typeof drug from the drug information DB 30, on the basis of the readprescription information. The control unit 160 outputs the readprescription information and drug information as reference informationof a dose of drug to the drug information acquisition unit 170.

Here, the drug information corresponding to the type of drug isinformation about the form of the drug (for example, an outwardappearance, a color, a character, and a secant line). The outwardappearance information of the drug is information including the shape ofdrug (for example, a disc shape, a lens shape, a capsule shape, a strawbale shape, a triangular shape, and a football shape) and a size (forexample, a diameter, a thickness, a major axis, and a minor axis). Thecolor information of the drug is information indicating the color of thedrug under a standard light source (under the same illumination as thering illumination). For example, the proportions of red (R), green (G),and blue (B) and color difference information are considered as thecolor information. The character information of the drug is informationabout characters which are printed or stamped on the surface of thedrug.

The control unit 160 outputs an imaging instruction and an illuminationinstruction to the two cameras 130A and 130B and the ring illuminationunits 150A and 150B at a predetermined time, respectively.

The drug information acquisition unit 170 processes two images capturedby the two cameras 130A and 130B to acquire drug information related tothe shape of each drug in a packet.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, since the two cameras 130A and 130B areprovided so as to face the first inclined surface 112A and the secondinclined surface 112B in the bottom of the imaging tray 110,respectively, the two images captured by the cameras 130A and 130Binclude the image of the upper surface (or the lower surface) of thedrug and the image of the side surface of the drug.

For example, as illustrated in (a) and (b) of FIG. 10, the side surfaceof a disc-shaped drug 200 and the side surface of a lens-shaped drug 202have different shapes. Therefore, the drug information acquisition unit170 can distinguish the disc-shaped drug 200 and the lens-shaped drug202 even though the drugs 200 and 202 have the same diameter. Inaddition, when disc-shaped drugs have the same diameter, but havedifferent thickness, the drugs can be determined to be different typesof drugs.

In addition, (a) and (h) of FIG. 11 are diagrams illustrating an exampleof two images which are captured in a direction perpendicular to thefirst inclined surface 112A of the V-shaped groove 112 in the bottom ofthe imaging tray 110 and a direction perpendicular to the secondinclined surface 112B of the V-shaped groove 112.

The captured image illustrated in (a) of FIG. 11 includes the image ofthe upper surface (or the lower surface) of the drug 210 and the imageof the side surface of the drug 212, of two types of disc-shaped drugs210 and 212 with different diameters. The captured image illustrated in(b) of FIG. 11 includes the image of the side surface of the drug 210and the image of the upper surface (or the lower surface) of the drug212.

As illustrated in FIG. 11, even though the drugs 210 and 212, whoseposture has been adjusted along the first inclined surface 112A and thesecond inclined surface 112B of the V-shaped groove 112, do not overlapeach other, they seem to largely overlap each other on the imageillustrated in (b) of FIG. 11 due to, for example, the shapes ofadjacent drugs.

Even when the images of the drugs overlap each other in one capturedimage, the drug information acquisition unit 170 can perform imageprocessing for two captured images to accurately calculate the outwardappearance information of the drugs from the relationship with theimages of the drugs which appear in the other image captured in adifferent direction.

The drug information acquisition unit 170 includes a storage unit 170Bthat stores size correction information corresponding to the objectdistance of each V-shaped groove 112 in the row of the grooves in thebottom of the imaging tray 110.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the camera 130A captures the image of the drugin a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the first inclinedsurface 112A of the V-shaped groove 112. However, the object distance tothe first inclined surface 112A of the V-shaped groove 112 variesdepending on the position of the V-shaped groove 112. As a result, thesize of the same drug in the captured image varies depending on which ofthe V-shaped grooves 112 in the row of the grooves the drug is locatedin.

The storage unit 170B stores the size correction informationcorresponding to the position (that is, the object distance) of theV-shaped groove 112. The drug information acquisition unit 170 reads thesize correction information of the captured drug corresponding to theposition of the V-shaped groove 112 from the storage unit 170B andcorrects the size information of the drug obtained by image processing,on the basis of the read size correction information. Therefore,whichever V-shaped groove 12 in the row of the grooves in the bottom ofthe imaging tray 110 the drug is located in, it is possible toaccurately acquire the size of the drug. For example, it is possible todetect the size of the drug in an error range of about 0.1 mm.

The drug information acquisition unit 170 acquires color informationindicating the color of the drug as the drug information on the basis ofthe captured image. Therefore, even when drugs 220 and 222 have the sameshape as illustrated in (a) and (b) of FIG. 12, the drugs 220 and 222with different color information items can be determined to be differenttypes of drugs. The color information includes information of differentcolors illustrated in (a) of FIG. 12.

The drug information acquisition unit 170 acquires the characterinformation of the drug and a secant line as the drug information on thebasis of the captured image.

(a) of FIG. 13 illustrates a drug 230 having characters printed orstamped on the surface thereof and (b) of FIG. 13 illustrates a drug 232having a secant line 2324 formed therein.

The drug information acquisition unit 170 has an optical characterrecognition (OCR) function and reads the characters which are printed orstamped on the surface of the drug in the captured image. When a drughas a secant line, the drug information acquisition unit 170 detects thesecant line. Therefore, even if drugs have the same shape and color, thedrug information acquisition unit 170 can recognize different types ofdrugs on the basis of the character information or the secant line.

The drug information acquisition unit 170 compares the acquired druginformation of a dose of drug with the drug information referenceinformation) of a dose of drug which is input from the control unit 160and then extracted on the basis of the prescription information. Whenthe drug information of all of the drugs corresponding to a dose isidentical to the reference information, the drug information acquisitionunit 170 determines that a dose of drug is dispensed according to theprescription. When the drug information of any of the drugscorresponding to a dose is not identical to the reference informationand when the number of drugs is not equal to that in the referenceinformation, the drug information acquisition unit 170 determines that adose of drug is not dispensed according to the prescription and outputsthe determination result to the determination result output unit 180.

The determination result output unit 180 records or displays thedetermination results. For example, the determination result output unit180 can record or display information indicating the day at which thedoses of drug for morning and noon are different from those in theprescription. Therefore, even when drugs are exchanged between adjacentcells 82A of the manual distribution tray 82 during the manualdistribution operation using the manual distribution tray 82 illustratedin FIG. 2 (that is, even when the number of drugs corresponding to adose is correct), it is possible to obtain the determination resultindicating whether a dose of drug is different from that in theprescription.

The control unit 160 operates the vibration unit 120A (120B), the turretdevice 140, and the drug discharge unit 190 at an appropriate time insynchronization with the packaging operation of the packaging apparatus80.

<Drug Information Acquisition Method>

Next, an embodiment of the drug information acquisition method accordingk/de invention will be described.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the process of thedrug information acquisition device 100-1 according to the firstembodiment.

It is assumed that the manual distribution operation of the pharmacistfor the manual distribution tray 82 and the input of the prescription IDby the operation unit 84 end prior to the acquisition of the druginformation by the drug information acquisition device 100-1.

In FIG. 14, when the packaging apparatus 80 starts automatic packaging,a dose of drug accommodated in the cell 82A of the manual distributiontray 82 is inserted into the imaging tray 110 at a druginsertion/vibration position through the supply guide 90, as illustratedin FIG. 3 (Step S10, a drug supply step). The drug insertion operationmay be performed by the function of the packaging apparatus 80.

Then, the vibration unit 120A or 120B vibrates the imaging tray 110which is located at the drug insertion/vibration position and into whicha dose of drug is inserted for a predetermined period of time (Step S12;a vibration step). The vibration time is a sufficient time to remove theoverlap between the drugs corresponding to a dose supplied to theimaging tray 110 and to adjust the posture of the drugs using the firstinclined surface 112A and the second inclined surface 112B of theV-shaped groove 112 in the bottom of the imaging tray 110.

Then, the positions of the two imaging trays 110A and 110B are exchangedby the turret device 140 (the imaging tray is moved) (Step S14). Then,the imaging tray 110 at the drug insertion/vibration position is movedto the imaging/drug discharge position.

Then, the image of a dose of drug in the imaging tray 110 moved to theimaging/drug discharge position is captured by the two cameras 130A and130B and two captured images are acquired (Step S16; an imaging step).The drug information acquisition unit 170 processes each of the twocaptured images to acquire the drug information including at least theoutward appearance information of the drug (drug information acquisitionstep), as described above.

When the imaging of the drug ends, the drug is discharged from theimaging tray 110 to the packet insertion guide 92 (Step S18). Thepackaging apparatus 80 inserts a dose of drug discharged to the packetinsertion guide 92 into a packet and packages the drug.

Then, the drug information acquisition device 100-1 or the packagingapparatus 80 determines whether an operation of packaging drugscorresponding to one patient has ended (Step S20). When the operationhas not ended (“No”), the drug information acquisition device 100-1 orthe packaging apparatus 80 proceeds to Step S10 and repeats the processfrom Step S10 to Step S18. When the operation has ended (“Yes”), thedrug information acquisition device 100-1 or the packaging apparatus 80ends the packaging process.

The process in Step S10 and Step S12 is the process at the druginsertion/vibration position and the process in Step S14 and Step S16 isthe process at the imaging/drug discharge position. Therefore, theseprocesses can be performed in parallel.

FIG. 15 is a timing chart illustrating the procedure of the process ofthe drug information acquisition device 100-1 at the druginsertion/vibration position and the imaging/drug discharge position.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, it is possible to perform the process at thedrug insertion/vibration position ((a) of FIG. 15) and the process atthe imaging/drug discharge position ((c) of FIG. 15) at the same time(in parallel) except for a period ((b) of FIG. 15) for exchanging thepositions of the two imaging trays 110A and 110B (moving the imagingtrays).

In this way, it is possible to continuously perform the drug insertionprocess, the vibration process, the imaging tray moving process, theimaging process, and the drug discharge process in this order with aperiod T. In particular, when the period T is within the period of timerequired for the packaging apparatus to package a dose of drug, it ispossible to prevent a reduction in the packaging speed of the packagingapparatus. When the processes are performed in parallel, it is possibleto prevent a significant reduction in the packaging speed even if theperiod T is beyond the period of time required for the packagingapparatus to package a dose of drug. In addition, it is possible tovibrate the imaging tray for a period from the insertion of the drug tothe imaging of the drug and thus to shorten the period T.

Modification Example of First Embodiment

A drug information acquisition device according to a modificationexample of the first embodiment further includes an image acquisitionunit (the control unit 160 and the drug information acquisition unit 170illustrated in FIG. 9) which instructs the cameras 130A and 130B tocontinuously capture the image of drugs on the imaging tray 110 which isbeing vibrated to acquire continuous images, a determination unit (thedrug information acquisition unit 170) which processes each of theimages acquired by the image acquisition unit to remove the overlapbetween the drugs corresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray110 and to determine whether the posture of the drugs has beencorrected, and a control unit 160 that stops the vibration of theimaging tray 110 by the vibration unit 120A or 120B when thedetermination unit determines that the overlap between the drugs hasbeen removed and the posture of the drugs has been corrected.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the process of thedrug information acquisition device according to the modificationexample of the first embodiment. The same portions as those in theflowchart including the procedure of the process of the drug informationacquisition device 100-1 according to the first embodiment illustratedin FIG. 14 are denoted by the same step numbers and the descriptionthereof will not be repeated.

In FIG. 16, immediately after the insertion of drugs into the imagingtray 110 at the drug insertion/vibration position in Step S10 ends, thevibration of the imaging tray 110 by the vibration unit 120A or 120Bimmediately starts (Step S30; a vibration step).

Then, when the imaging tray 110 is moved to the imaging/drug dischargeposition, the cameras 130A and 130B continuously capture the image ofthe drugs on the imaging tray 110 which is being vibrated (first imagingstep) and image processing for removing the overlap between the drugscorresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray 110 on the basis ofthe continuously captured images and for determining whether the postureof the drugs has been corrected is performed (Step S32).

Here, the image processing is required to remove the overlap between thedrugs and to correct the posture of the drugs. Therefore, apredetermined shape range is determined from the “shape of the drugs tobe present” which has been acquired in advance from the prescription DB20 and the drug information DB 30 and image processing is performed tocompare the shape of each drug which can be obtained in a state in whichthe drugs in the imaging tray 110 do not overlap each other with theshape of each drug in the captured image. In addition, as another imageprocessing, the following image processing is considered: imageprocessing for determining whether each of the drugs in the imaging tray110 has the same posture in two successive images (that is, whether theposture of each drug is adjusted and stabilized by the V-shaped grooves112 in the bottom of the imaging tray 110).

The resolution of the image which is captured during vibration isreduced by the influence of image blurring. However, since the image isused for image processing for determining the overlap between the drugs,the quality of the image is sufficient to determine the overlap betweenthe drugs.

Then, it is determined whether, for example, the overlap between thedrugs corresponding to a dose in the imaging tray 110 has been removedon the basis of the image processing in Step S32 (Step S34; adetermination step). When it is determined that the overlap between thedrugs has not been removed (“No”), the process proceeds to Step S32.Then, the next image is captured and image processing is performed forthe captured image. When it is determined that the overlap between thedrugs has been removed (“Yes”), the process proceeds to Step S36.

In Step S36, the control unit 160 issues a vibration stop instruction tothe vibration unit 120A or 120B to stop the vibration of the imagingtray 110 (vibration stop step).

When the vibration of the imaging tray 110 is stopped, the cameras 130Aand 130B capture the image of a dose of drug in the imaging tray 110 ina stationary state (Step S38; a second imaging step) Step S38corresponds to Step S16 illustrated in FIG. 14 and the drug informationacquisition unit 170 performs image processing for each of two capturedimages to acquire drug information including at least the outwardappearance information of the drug.

As such, according to the modification example of the first embodiment,the image of a dose of drug in the imaging tray 110 which is beingvibrated is continuously captured and the vibration of the imaging tray110 is stopped at the time when it is determined that the overlapbetween the drugs has been removed on the basis of the continuouslycaptured images. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the vibrationtime.

Only one of the cameras 130A and 130B may continuously capture the imageof the drug in the imaging tray 110 while the imaging tray 110 is beingvibrated. In this case, it is possible to determine whether, forexample, the overlap between the drugs has been removed on the basis ofthe time-series image captured by one of the cameras.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 17 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main portion of asecond embodiment of the drug information acquisition device accordingto the invention. The same components as those in the drug informationacquisition device 100-1 according to the first embodiment illustratedin FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals and the detaileddescription thereof will not be repeated.

A drug information acquisition device 100-2 according to the secondembodiment illustrated in FIG. 17 differs from the drug informationacquisition device 100-1 according to the first embodiment in thestructure of two imaging trays 110A-1 and 110B-1 and the arrangementposition of two cameras 130C and 130D and a packet insertion guide 92-1.

That is, the bottom of each of the two imaging trays 110A-1 and 110B-1is a transparent member and the cameras 130C and 130D are provided in anobliquely downward direction with respect to the imaging tray 110B-1 andcapture the image of drugs through the transparent member at the bottom.The packet insertion guide 92-1 is provided so as to be opposite to thesupply guide 90 and does not fall within an imaging region of thecameras 130C and 130D.

In the drug information acquisition device 100-2 according to the secondembodiment, the cameras 130C and 130D are provided below the imagingtray 110B-1. Therefore, the drug information acquisition device 100-2 isuseful for a case in which a camera installation space (a space capableof ensuring an object distance) is below the supply guide 90.

Third Embodiment

FIG. 18 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main portion of athird embodiment of the drug information acquisition device according tothe invention. The same components as those in the drug informationacquisition device 100-1 according to the first embodiment illustratedin FIG. 3 and the drug information acquisition device 100-2 according tothe second embodiment illustrated in FIG. 17 are denoted by the samereference numerals and the detailed description thereof will not berepeated.

A drug information acquisition device 100-3 according to the thirdembodiment illustrated in FIG. 18 is a combination of the druginformation acquisition device 100-1 according to the first embodimentand the drug information acquisition device 100-2 according to thesecond embodiment and particularly includes cameras 130A and 130B (afirst imaging unit and a second imaging unit) and cameras 130C and 130D(a third imaging unit and a fourth imaging unit).

The camera 130A and the camera 130C are provided so as to face eachother, with the bottom of the imaging tray 110B-1, which is atransparent member, interposed therebetween. Similarly, the camera 130Band camera 130D are provided so as to face each other, with the bottomof the imaging tray 110B-1, which is the transparent member, interposedtherebetween.

Since four cameras 130A 130B, 130C, and 130D are arranged in this way,it is possible to acquire four captured images (first to fourth images).The images of the upper, lower, and two opposite side surfaces of onedrug are obtained.

According to this structure, when character information is printed orstamped on the surface of a drug or when a secant line is engraved inthe drug as shown in FIG. 13, it is possible to reliably capture theimage of the character information or the secant line.

Fourth Embodiment

FIG. 19 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main portion of afourth embodiment of the drug information acquisition device accordingto the invention. The same components as those in the drug informationacquisition device 100-3 according to the third embodiment illustratedin FIG. 18 are denoted by the same reference numerals and the detaileddescription thereof will not be repeated.

A drug information acquisition device 100-4 according to the fourthembodiment illustrated in FIG. 19 mainly differs from the druginformation acquisition device 100-3 according to the third embodimentin that it further includes a discharge guide 94.

The discharge guide 94 is a guide portion which discharges a dose ofdrug, which has been determined not to be dispensed according to aprescription, to a discharge tray (not illustrated). At least a portionof the discharge guide 94 is a transparent member such that thedischarge guide 94 does not hinder the cameras 130C and 130D fromcapturing images.

When it is determined that a dose of drug has not been dispensedaccording to a prescription, a drug information acquisition unit of thedrug information acquisition device 100-4 outputs the determinationresult to the determination result output unit 180. In addition, sincethe discharge guide 94 is provided, the drug information acquisitionunit discharges the dose of drug, which has been determined not to bedispensed according to the prescription, to the discharge tray throughthe discharge guide 94. Therefore, it is possible to prevent thepackaging apparatus 80 from packaging the dose of drug which has beendetermined not to be dispensed according to the prescription.

In the drug information acquisition device 100-4 according to the fourthembodiment, the arrangement position of the packet insertion guide 92-1and the arrangement position of the discharge guide 94 may be exchanged.

Fifth Embodiment

FIG. 20 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main portion of afifth embodiment of the drug information acquisition device according tothe invention. The same components as those in the drug informationacquisition device 100-3 according to the third embodiment illustratedin FIG. 18 are denoted by the same reference numerals and the detaileddescription thereof will not be repeated.

A drug information acquisition device 100-5 according to the fifthembodiment illustrated in FIG. 20 mainly differs from the druginformation acquisition device 100-3 according to the third embodimentin that it includes only a single imaging tray 110-2 and the imagingtray 110-2 is not moved.

The bottom and side of the imaging tray 110-2 and a portion of thepacket insertion guide 92-1 are transparent members such that thecameras 130A, 130B, 130C, and 130D are not hindered from capturing theimages of drugs.

According to the drug information acquisition device 100-5 of the fifthembodiment, it is possible to omit a moving mechanism such as a turretdevice for moving the imaging tray to the imaging position. Therefore,it is possible to reduce the size and cost of the device.

The drug information acquisition device 100-5 according to the fifthembodiment includes four cameras 130A, 130B, 130C, and 130D. However,only two cameras 130A and 130B which capture the image of the bottom ofthe imaging tray 110-2 from the upper side or only two cameras 130C and130D which capture the image of the bottom of the imaging tray 110-2from the lower side may be provided.

<Others>

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the imaging tray 110 according to thisembodiment has the rectangular parallelepiped box shape with the openupper surface. However, the invention is not limited thereto. Theimaging tray 110 may be inclined such that the side surface of theimaging tray does not fall within the imaging range when the cameras130A and 130B capture images.

The drug supply unit according to this embodiment includes the manualdistribution tray 82 and a dose of drug is inserted from the manualdistribution tray 82 to the imaging tray 110 through the supply guide90. However, the invention is not limited thereto. The invention may beapplied to an automatic drug supply device which automatically suppliesa dose of drug.

In addition, in the above-described embodiments, the vibration unitvibrates the imaging tray to prevent the overlap between the drugscorresponding to a dose which are inserted into the imaging tray and toadjust the posture of the drugs. However, the invention is not limitedto the structure in which the imaging tray is vibrated. For example, anoperation of sweeping the imaging tray with a brush group may beperformed to prevent the overlap between the drugs and to adjust theposture of the drugs.

The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments andvarious modifications and changes of the invention can be made withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCES

-   -   1: DRUG DISPENSING INSPECTION SUPPORT SYSTEM    -   80: PACKAGING APPARATUS    -   82: MANUAL DISTRIBUTION TRAY    -   82A: CELL    -   84: OPERATION UNIT    -   90: SUPPLY GUIDE    -   92, 92-1: PACKET INSERTION GUIDE    -   100-1 TO 100-5: DRUG INFORMATION ACQUISITION DEVICE    -   110, 110A, 110B, 110-1, 110-2, 110A-1, 110B-1: IMAGING TRAY    -   112, 112-1: V-SHAPED GROOVE    -   112A, 112-1A: FIRST INCLINED SURFACE    -   112B, 112-1B: SECOND INCLINED SURFACE    -   120A, 120B: VIBRATION UNIT    -   130A, 130B, 130C, 130D: CAMERA    -   140: TURRET DEVICE    -   150A, 150B: RING ILLUMINATION    -   160: CONTROL UNIT    -   170: DRUG INFORMATION ACQUISITION UNIT    -   170B: STORAGE UNIT    -   200, 202, 210, 212, 220, 222, 230, 232: DRUG    -   232A: SECANT LINE

What is claimed is:
 1. A drug information acquisition device comprising:an imaging tray that is provided between a drug supply unit whichsupplies each dose of a plurality of types of drugs and a packetinsertion guide, temporarily holds a dose of drug supplied from the drugsupply unit, and has a bottom in which a row of V-shaped grooves, eachhaving a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface, isformed; a mechanical unit that removes an overlap between the drugscorresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray and corrects theposture of the drugs using the first inclined surface and the secondinclined surface of the V-shaped groove; an illumination unit thatilluminates the drugs on the imaging tray; first and second imagingunits that are provided so as to face the first inclined surface and thesecond inclined surface in the bottom of the imaging tray, respectively,and capture images of the drugs, whose posture is corrected by themechanical unit and which are illuminated by the illumination unit, onthe imaging tray; and a drug information acquisition unit that processesa first image and a second image which are respectively acquired fromthe first imaging unit and the second imaging unit to acquire druginformation including at least outward appearance information of thedrugs in the first image and the second image.
 2. The drug informationacquisition device according to claim 1, wherein the mechanical unit isa vibration unit that vibrates the imaging tray.
 3. The drug informationacquisition device according to claim 2, further comprising: a movingmechanism; and a control unit, wherein a plurality of the imaging traysare provided, the moving mechanism moves the plurality of imaging traysbetween at least two of a position where the drug is supplied from thedrug supply unit to the imaging tray, a position where the vibrationunit vibrates the imaging tray, a position where the first imaging unitand the second imaging unit capture the image of the drug in the imagingtray, and a position where the drug is discharged from the imaging trayto the packet insertion guide after the image capture, and the controlunit simultaneously operates the plurality of imaging trays at the twoor more positions.
 4. The drug information acquisition device accordingto claim 2, further comprising: an image acquisition unit that instructsat least one of the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit tocontinuously capture the image of the drug on the imaging tray while thevibration unit is vibrating the imaging tray and acquires a continuousimage; a determination unit that determines whether the overlap betweenthe drugs corresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray has beenremoved and whether the posture of the drugs has been corrected, on thebasis of the image acquired by the image acquisition unit; and a controlunit that stops the vibration of the imaging tray by the vibration unitwhen the determination unit determines that the overlap between thedrugs has been removed and that the posture of the drugs has beencorrected, wherein the drug information acquisition unit acquires thedrug information on the basis of the first image and the second imagewhich are acquired from the first imaging unit and the second imagingunit, respectively, after the vibration of the imaging tray is stopped.5. The drug information acquisition device according to claim 1, whereinthe first inclined surface and the second inclined surface of theV-shaped groove have the same inclination angle, and an angle formedbetween the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface isequal to or greater than 60 degrees and equal to or less than 150degrees.
 6. The drug information acquisition device according to claim1, wherein the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface ofthe V-shaped groove have different inclination angles, and an angleformed between the first inclined surface and the second inclinedsurface is equal to or greater than 60 degrees and equal to or less than150 degrees.
 7. The drug information acquisition device according toclaim 1, wherein the drug information acquisition unit includes astorage unit that stores size correction information corresponding to anobject distance of each V-shaped groove in the row of the V-shapedgrooves in the bottom of the imaging tray, reads the corresponding sizecorrection information from the storage unit according to which of theV-shaped grooves in the row of the V-shaped grooves of the imaging traythe drug is located in, and corrects size information which is includedin the outward appearance information acquired by the image processingwith the read size correction information.
 8. The drug informationacquisition device according to claim 1, wherein the first imaging unitand the second imaging unit are provided in an obliquely upwarddirection with respect to the imaging tray.
 9. The drug informationacquisition device according to claim 8, further comprising: third andfourth imaging units that are provided so as to face the first imagingunit and the second imaging unit, respectively, with the imaging trayinterposed therebetween, wherein at least the bottom of the imaging trayis a transparent member, the third imaging unit and the fourth imagingunit capture images of the drugs through the transparent member, and thedrug information acquisition unit processes each of first to fourthimages acquired by the first to fourth imaging units to acquire druginformation including at least outward appearance information of thedrugs in the first to fourth images.
 10. The drug informationacquisition device according to claim 1, wherein at least the bottom ofthe imaging tray is a transparent member, and the first imaging unit andthe second imaging unit are provided in an obliquely downward directionwith respect to the imaging tray and capture the image of the drugthrough the transparent member.
 11. The drug information acquisitiondevice according to claim 1, wherein the drug information acquisitionunit further acquires at least one of color information, characterinformation, and a secant line of the drug in the image, using the imageprocessing.
 12. A drug information acquisition method that is performedin a drug information acquisition device including an imaging tray thatis provided between a drug supply unit and a packet insertion guide andhas a bottom in which a row of V-shaped grooves, each having a firstinclined surface and a second inclined surface, is formed, a vibrationunit that vibrates the imaging tray, an illumination unit thatilluminates drugs on the imaging tray, first and second imaging unitsthat are provided so as to face the first inclined surface and thesecond inclined surface in the bottom of the imaging tray, respectively,and a drug information acquisition unit, the method comprising: a drugsupply step of supplying each dose of a plurality of types of drugs fromthe drug supply unit to the imaging tray; a vibration step of vibratingthe imaging tray with Ube vibration unit to remove an overlap betweenthe drugs corresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray and tocorrect the posture of the drugs using the first inclined surface andthe second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove; an imaging step ofcapturing images of the drugs on the imaging tray illuminated by theillumination unit, using the first imaging unit and the second imagingunit, to acquire a first image and a second image after the vibrationstep; and a drug information acquisition step of processing the firstimage and the second image acquired in the imaging step, using the druginformation acquisition unit, to acquire drug information including atleast outward appearance information of the drugs in the first image andthe second image.
 13. The drug information acquisition method accordingto claim 12, further comprising: a storage step of storing in a storageunit, size correction information corresponding to an object distance ofeach V-shaped groove in the row of the V-shaped grooves in the bottom ofthe imaging tray, wherein the drug information acquisition step includesa reading step of reading the corresponding size correction informationfrom the storage unit according to which of the V-shaped grooves in therow of the V-shaped grooves of the imaging tray the drug is located in,and a correcting step of correcting size information which is includedin the outward appearance information acquired by the image processingwith the read size correction information.
 14. The drug informationacquisition method according to claim 12, wherein in the druginformation acquisition step, at least one of color information,character information, and a sec me of the drug in age is furtheracquired by the image processing.
 15. A drug information acquisitionmethod that is performed in a drug information acquisition deviceincluding an imaging tray that is provided between a drug supply unitand a packet insertion guide and has a bottom in which a row of V-shapedgrooves, each having a first inclined surface and a second inclinedsurface, is formed, a vibration unit that vibrates the imaging tray, anillumination unit that illuminates drugs on the imaging tray, first andsecond imaging units that are provided so as to face the first inclinedsurface and the second inclined surface in the bottom of the imagingtray, respectively, and a drug information acquisition unit, the methodcomprising: a drug supply step of supplying each dose of a plurality oftypes of drugs from the drug supply unit to the imaging tray; avibration step of vibrating the imaging tray with the vibration unit toremove an overlap between the drugs corresponding to a dose supplied tothe imaging tray and to correct the posture of the drugs using the firstinclined surface and the second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove;a first imaging step of continuously capturing images of the drugs onthe imaging tray illuminated by the illumination unit, using at leastone of the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit, to acquire acontinuous image during the vibration of the imaging tray in thevibration step; a determination step of determining whether the overlapbetween the drugs corresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging trayhas been removed and whether the posture of the drugs has beencorrected, on the basis of the image acquired in the first imaging step;a step of stopping the vibration of the imaging tray in the vibrationstep when it is determined in the determination step that the overlapbetween the drugs has been removed and the posture of the drugs has beencorrected; a second imaging step of capturing images of the drugs on theimaging tray illuminated by the illumination unit, using the firstimaging unit and the second imaging unit, to acquire a first image and asecond image after the vibration of the imaging tray is stopped; and adrug information acquisition step of processing the first image and thesecond image acquired in the second imaging step, using the druginformation acquisition unit, to acquire drug information including atleast outward appearance information of the drugs in the first image andthe second image.
 16. The drug information acquisition method accordingto claim 15, further comprising: a storage step of storing in a storageunit, size correction information corresponding to an object distance ofeach V-shaped groove in the row of the V-shaped grooves in the bottom ofthe imaging tray, wherein the drug information acquisition step includesa reading step of reading the corresponding size correction informationfrom the storage unit according to which of the V-shaped grooves in therow of the V-shaped grooves of the imaging tray the drug is located in,and a correcting step of correcting size information which is includedin the outward appearance information acquired by the image processingwith the read size correction information.
 17. The drug informationacquisition method according to claim 15, wherein in the druginformation acquisition step, at least one of color information,character information, and a secant line of the drug in the image isfurther acquired by the image processing.